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Over 60 winners of the National Film Awards have said that they will skip the ceremony on Thursday evening after a last minute announcement that President Ram Nath Kovind would be presenting only 11 awards, a departure from tradition. Controversy erupted over the 65th National Film Awards just a day before the ceremony after the awardees were told that not all of them would be receiving the awards by Kovind. This led to calls of boycott by some of the awardees and has put Thursday’s ceremony under a shadow. [caption id=“attachment_4320067” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
File image of Ram Nath Kovind. PTI[/caption]
Mumbai Mirror
reported that the awardees were informed of this development on Wednesday at the dress rehearsal for the ceremony. They were told that only 11 awards would be presented by Kovind while the rest would be handed over by Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Smriti Irani, Minister of State, I&B Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, and the I&B ministry’s secretary Narendra Kumar Sinha. The President will arrive after most of the awards have been handed out, will present 11 awards, and then will have a photo-op with the winners in groups of 45. This news agitated some of awardees which resulted in Irani rushing to the rehearsal venue and trying to placate the awardees, reported
The Asian Age
. “She told us she had offered to cut down on her speech so all could be awarded by the President within the time he had given for the function,” the awardees said to The Asian Age. The awardees insisted that they were not belittling the ministers but were unhappy about the division in ceremonies. They felt that either all awards should be handed out by the President or none at all. Traditionally, all the National Film Awards are given out by the President. This tradition was followed in 2017 as well with then-president Pranab Mukherjee giving out all the awards personally. However, Kovind in his presidency, has followed the rule of not allotting more than one hour for any award ceremony. This was reiterated by his press secretary Ashok Malik who told
The Print
that, “In all the award ceremonies he has attended, he gives away major awards and takes photographs with all awardees. That has been the standard practice, which has been conveyed to the organisers well in advance.”
National Film Awards 2018 Live updates: Boney Kapoor, daughters Janhvi, Khushi arrive to receive award for Sridevi
Over 60 winners of the National Film Awards have said that they will skip the ceremony on Thursday evening after a last minute announcement that President Ram Nath Kovind would be presenting only 11 awards, a departure from tradition.
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AR Rahman arrives at the red carpet
Rahman said, “Winning a national award is very special, whenever I come back here, I feel nostalgic. This time is very special because it is for a special movie Mom.”
Awardees speak about the National Film Awards row
Shasha Tirupati gets the Best Female Playback Singer award for ‘Vaan Varuvaan’ from Kaatru Veliyidai (Tamil).
Tirupati has earlier said to IANS, " I feel terribly disrespected right now. It’s like the thrill of it is gone now. I was so excited. My father was going to fly down from Vancouver. I am thanking my stars that he didn’t. It would have been such an embarrassment because he would have flown down to see me getting the award from the President. National Awards and the President go hand-in-hand. For 64 years, they have been given by the President. When you speak of the National Award, automatically people visualise the President handing over the award to the recipient."
Boney Kapoor arrives to collect award for Sridevi
Among the attendees however, were late screen legend Sridevi’s kin — husband Boney Kapoor and daughter Janhvi and Khushi Kapoor.
“We are proud of her, she truly deserved it. She always gave her best for all her films. Sadly she is not around to accept it. But we are proud of it,” Boney said, as reported by Indian Express.
65th National Film Awards underway
As 70 recipients refuse to attend the National Awards, the ceremony is underway in Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
After President Ram Nath Kovind announced that he will not be presenting the awards personally to every winner, many recipients expressed their disappointment by not attending the prestigious event.